Tuesday, November 23, 2010

Baked goat cheese dip with caramelized onions and California figs

Here's why I decided to make this baked goat cheese dip with figs and caramelized onions when fellow food blogger Melissa Lanz (www.wellprepped.com) and her charming family came over for dinner last weekend:

The day before I'd received a package from the California Fig Advisory Board containing 16 POUNDS (yes, you read that right) of delicious dried figs.

Now I know I've told you about my love affair with fresh figs (and the resulting fig cake with almonds, fig goat cheese pie, and fresh fig salad with feta cheese). Dried figs, however, are another matter. Where fresh figs taste light and barely sweet, dried figs are sticky and chewy, a little gritty from the tiny seeds inside. I hadn't spent a lot of time with dried figs.

I decided to start with this recipe from the California Figs website. It couldn't be easier: You crumble goat cheese in the bottom of a baking dish, then saute some onions. Add chopped figs plumped in a little sherry and spread the whole mixture over the goat cheese. You pop it into the oven and everything comes together. It's a little messy when you scoop it on slices of bread, but the right kind of messy. The kind that makes you want to lick every little crevice of your hand.

Keep your antennae up and check back in a day or so, because the California Fig Advisory Board is going to send one lucky reader a heap o' dried California figs too. Giveaway starts soon....

Preheat oven to 350° F. Crumble goat cheese into an oven-safe dish and set aside.

In a small pot, combine figs and sherry with enough water to barely cover figs. Place pot over high heat and bring to a boil, cover and remove from heat and let figs plump while onions are cooking.

Pour olive oil into a large skillet and place over medium heat. Add onions, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper and cook, stirring often, for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Using a slotted spoon, remove plumped figs from the pot, leaving behind any of the liquid. Add figs to cooked onions, stir to combine and then spoon over goat cheese.

Place dish into top half of oven for 20 minutes, until edges begin to bubble. Remove and serve immediately with sliced baguettes.

I have a huge bag of figs in my pantry that I received from the Fig Advisory board a few months ago. This recipe sounds so amazing! I couldn't agree more with your reasoning for making this! Caramelized onions smell so very good! Thank you for sharing, Erika. I hope you have a blessed day with your family and friends tomorrow!

I ran out of goat cheese and decided to mix it with cream cheese instead this time - and I also added a little cream. The goat cheese by itself was a little crumbly, as goat cheese can be when it cools down. I'll be interested to see how the addition of cream cheese changes it. I'll let you know!

@Monet - if you're looking for something else to do with those figs, I also made this fig/chestnut stuffing from the California Figs website, although I added a little bacon to it: